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Verified

Verified Introduces Persona: The French Deception

Verified

Scripps

True Crime, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.71.8K Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2022

⏱️ 5 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Introducing the true crime podcast Persona: The French Deception— the story of Gilbert Chikli, one of the greatest con artists of all time. What does it feel like to pick up the phone and scam someone out of $50 million? Host and award-winning journalist, Evan Ratliff, investigates how Chikli successfully duped some of the world’s most powerful people into handing over their fortunes. He explores how Chikli evaded the law for years and became a Robin Hood-like hero. More than just a tale of criminal genius, this is a show about the moment we’re living in right now — the golden age of scammers — and the power of seduction. But what happens when the fantasy we’ve been lured into finally crumbles away? For all that and more, follow “Persona: The French Deception” wherever you get your podcasts. Or you can listen early on Amazon Music or early and ad-free by subscribing to Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts or the Wondery App: http://wondery.fm/V_Persona Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

When you can't quite get the angle, take hands-free selfies with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5,

0:05.2

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0:10.8

The new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Chromebook, available on Vodafone.

0:15.3

Hey everyone, my name is Natasha Del Toro and I'm the host of Verified.

0:20.3

It's a podcast that features deep investigations and true crime.

0:25.3

If you're anything like me, you're fascinated by a story of a well-executed scam.

0:32.2

And it seems like these kinds of stories are all the rage right now, like so many TV shows and

0:38.8

movies about crazy con artists. So if scams are your jam, I wanted to tell you about a new podcast

0:49.0

that's coming out now. It's called Persona the French Deception. This is the true story of

0:55.9

a Frenchman named Joubert Chiqulee, who was one of the greatest con artists of all time.

1:01.8

And this guy could pick up the phone and call someone and by the end of the call, be $50 million

1:08.5

richer. That's a skill. So this series investigates how Chiqulee duped some of the world's most

1:16.0

powerful people into handing over their fortunes and how he got away with it for years,

1:21.7

becoming this sort of Robin Hood-like hero. But this is more than just a tale of criminal genius.

1:29.9

This is really a story about the power of seduction and what happens when the fantasy that we've

1:36.3

been lured into finally crumbles. I want to play for you a little preview of the podcasts.

1:44.1

And while you're listening, go follow Persona the French Deception. Or you can listen early

1:50.5

on Amazon Music, or early and add free by subscribing to Wondry Plus, an Apple podcast, or the Wondry app.

2:00.0

There's this word in French that means scam, Arnak. A scammer or a con artist is sometimes called

2:18.0

an Arnakur. An original definition translates roughly as one who amuses in order to defraud.

2:24.9

It's a good way to think about scams, I find, or at least the most inspired ones.

2:35.0

I'm not talking about street-level swindles. I'm talking about the most elaborate,

...

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